Life can kick us when we are down. In Shawn Speakman's case, he is fighting back. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011, Speakman beat the disease as well as the massive medical debt he amassed from its treatment. He did this by publishing Unfettered, an anthology featuring short stories donated by some of the best science fiction and fantasy writers working today. Speakman has again collaborated with celebrated genre authors to publish Unfettered II.

Free the Darkness: King's Dark Tidings, Book 1

Raised and trained in seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life’s purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bestowed upon him by a dead king, Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence.

You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: an anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

The Man from the Diogenes Club

The debonair psychic investigator Richard Jeperson is the most valued member of the Diogenes Club, the least-known and most essential branch of British Intelligence. While foiling the plot of many a maniacal mastermind, he is chased by sentient snowmen and Nazi zombies, investigates an unearthly murderer stalking the sex shops of 1970s Soho, and battles a poltergeist to prevent it triggering nuclear Armageddon.

The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive

According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers followed. The Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, the Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won (or so the legends say).

Cephrael's Hand: A Pattern of Shadow and Light, Book 1

In Alorin...300 years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him....

Sufficiently Advanced Magic: Arcane Ascension, Book 1

Five years ago Corin Cadence's brother entered the Serpent Spire - a colossal tower with ever-shifting rooms, traps, and monsters. Those who survive the spire's trials return home with an attunement: a mark granting the bearer magical powers. According to legend, those few who reach the top of the tower will be granted a boon by the spire's goddess. He never returned. Now it's Corin's turn. He's headed to the top floor, on a mission to meet the goddess.

Forging Divinity: The War of Broken Mirrors, Book 1

Some say that in the city of Orlyn, godhood is on sale to the highest bidder. Thousands flock to the city each year, hoping for a chance at immortality. Lydia Hastings is a knowledge sorcerer, capable of extracting information from anything she touches. When she travels to Orlyn to validate the claims of the local faith, she discovers a conspiracy that could lead to a war between the world's three greatest powers. At the focal point is a prisoner who bears a striking resemblance to the long-missing leader of the pantheon she worships.

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

Welcome to New York Times and Sunday Times best seller Brandon Sanderson's first collection of short fiction. These wonderful works, originally published individually, have been collected for the first time and convey the true expanse of the Cosmere.

The Society of the Sword Trilogy

When Soren is plucked from the streets and given a place at the prestigious academy of swordsmanship, he thinks his dream of being a great swordsman has become a possibility. However, with great intrigues unfolding all around him, Soren discovers that he is little more than a pawn to the ambitions of others.

The Crown Tower: Riyria Chronicles, Volume 1

Hadrian, a warrior with nothing to fight for, is paired with Royce, a thieving assassin with nothing to lose. Together they must steal a treasure that no one can reach. The Crown Tower is the grandest fortress ever built and home to the realm's most prized possessions. But it isn't gold or jewels that their employer is after; if he can keep them from killing each other, they might just get him his prize.

Storm Front: The Dresden Files, Book 1

A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters.

Lovecraft's Monsters

Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft's Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft's most famous creations--Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more--appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature. Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas.

The Atrocity Archives: Book 1 in The Laundry Files

Never volunteer for active duty... Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe; but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, alternative universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than 'control+alt+delete' to sort this mess out...

Best Served Cold

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

The Blade Itself: The First Law: Book One

Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer, is trapped in a twisted and broken body - not that he allows it to distract him from his daily routine of torturing smugglers.Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain and shallow, the biggest blot on his horizon is having to get out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men.

The Last Wish

Geralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivety.

Rivers of London: PC Peter Grant, Book 1

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit--we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to--and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May.

Publisher's Summary

Not bound as a book. Free. Like Unfettered before it, the contributing writers of Unbound were allowed to submit the tales they wished fans of genre to hear - without the constraints of a shackling theme. The result is magical. Twenty-three all-original stories are sure to captivate you - some will move you to tears while others will keep you listening long into the night. The power of Unbound lies in its variety of tales and the voices behind them. If you are a fan of discovering new writers or hearing the works of beloved authors, Unbound is for you.

Return to Landover with Terry Brooks. Go to trial with Harry Dresden and Jim Butcher. Enter the Citadel, and become remade with Rachel Caine. Survive a plague with John Marco and his robot companion, Echo. Be painted among the stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. These tales and the others that comprise the anthology are bound only by how enchanting and enthralling they are.

This one was surprising in that I actually liked almost every story in it. Some of them were slower than others, but I didn't outright dislike any, which is rare for an anthology that has more than 5 stories in it.

My Favorites:

Rachel Caine - Madwalls - This. Story. Was. Amazeballs. I didn't dig the narrator (in fact I'm not at all a fan of Allyson Johnson as a narrator... so... this audiobook was less awesome for that since she narrates goddamn nearly a third of it.) Anyway, Rachel Caine writes djinn and things like them really well. The Weather Warden series rocked my socks and was definitely my gateway book into full fledged Urban Fantasy, so I have a real soft spot for her writing. This... being she's created was just awesome. I also loved the main character. You don't see Sikhs in fantasy too often. Awesome.

Delilah Dawson - Uncharming - I also really *really* love the Blud series. It is among the most well written Paranormal Romance I've ever read (with some of the worst covers, lol). It's para-romance with an actual plot, and character that are so... so wickedly well written. This story was about a background character from the third book in the series and it was neat getting a behind the scenes there. Loved it!

Terry Brooks - An Unfortunate Influx of Fillipians - Oh Landover. Never stop being ridiculous. I read the Landover series way back in high school and remember liking it slightly more than the Shannara series (with the exception of Elfstones which I will always love for being the first Fantasy book I ever read that wasn't LotR). I really liked that the narrator made Strabo sound like a gangster. Because he sort of is, in a way.

Brian Staveley - The Farmboy Prince - This story was short, full of cursing, and was really quite a good look into the farmboy prince trope from the POV of the other peasants. Awesomesauce.

Michael J. Sullivan - The Game - The idea that an NPC in an MMO suddenly gains sentience and what that would mean in the real world was a really great premise, and he has totally nailed it with this story. How does he write such *annoying* people so well? Also, reference in this story to a game called 'Elan Online' - I would play the absolute hell out of this game. OMG. - So, in conclusion here, Michael Sullivan and Tim Gerard Reynolds teamed up to get me all teary-eyed at work about a character I had known for approximately 20 minutes. Thanks, guys.

Jim Butcher - Jury Duty - I love how Jim Butcher can make a story about Harry Dresden getting jury duty entertaining. I also loved the introduction where he explained that sometimes he just likes to make Harry realistic in the fact that he has to do some real stuff. He has to do laundry and get his mail, fix his car, and stuff like that. I like that too. Harry does these things in a very entertaining way that usually involves White Court vampires or Winter Fae.

In conclusion, this anthology was overall a winner! I can't wait for Unfettered II!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Robert

16/09/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"very good listen"

I enjoyed this anthology, it was perfomed well and the stories were interesting. I would recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Brad G

KCK

06/09/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"overall good stories"

as expected some stories were better than others. not all fit my tastes but were still performed well.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Greg Costello

28/07/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"what a deal!"

so many great authors with original stories, & Micheal J Sullivan's "The Game" inspired by his years playing Everquest, in which I could relate. Loved it all!

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

John

30/09/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"multiple narrators"

I really enjoy books with multiple narrators. I think it lends a great deal to any audiobook. I look forward to finding more books especially Syfy and Mysteries medical Mysteries and fantasy books if anyone knows of looks like this please let me know. Thanks John

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

CV

04/05/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"Really difficult to use with Alexa"

What would have made Unbound better?

If there were a way to know what the chapters actually were, without having to skip around, guessing.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Unbound?

The frustration of trying to use the product.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

It was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Lots of frustration, trying to use the product with Alexa, then with the amazon.com app. Still haven't gotten it to work.

Any additional comments?

This service needs serious improvement. First day of my free trial has really turned me off from it, completely. Wouldn't recommend to anyone. Much too difficult to use.

1 of 6 people found this review helpful

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